Christian Associates of Southwest PA is an ecumenical group founded in 1970 that includes 26 church bodies (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) representing 2,000 local congregations and 1,000,000 Christians in the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland.

On Friday, Christian Associates of Southwest PA released a statement on religious freedom and healthcare. You can read the statement here and watch the video below.

Here is an excerpt, “The ‘Preventive Services Mandate’ issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requires faith-based entities that provide health insurance to facilitate access to specific preventive services, even if they consider some of those services incompatible with the practice of their faith. Our deep concern over this mandate does not arise from the varying convictions we have on the moral content of this mandate, but from our common commitment to the right of religious freedom that all people of faith expect to enjoy in this country. The Constitution of the United States guarantees every religious institutionand its affiliated bodies the inalienable right to define its own identity and ministries and to practice its own beliefs, not just its freedom of worship.”